Rousey lands two new movie roles

February 7, 2014

Variety reports that Ronda Rousey has landed two movie roles. Both proposed roles will give Rousey the opportunity to get high profile visibility and will challenge her focus on MMA.

Rousey will be given a role in the upcoming “Entourage” movie which is based on the HBO series on the life and times of movie star Vinnie Chase and his friends and agent. The other role is the recently-acquired, “The Athena Project.” The movie, which still needs to be written for the screen, is based on a New York Times bestseller which will feature Rousey as one of the female leads.

The announcement will not impact her upcoming February 22nd matchup with Sara McMann and it’s not known how this will impact Rousey’s future UFC fights. You may recall that Rousey shot 2 movies while training for her fight with Miesha Tate at UFC 168.

Payout Perspective:

We should have all expected this since Rousey signed up with William Morris last year. While she will be in “The Fast & the Furious” and “Expendables” franchises, the announcement of her roles in the “Entourage” movie and “The Athena Project” should give her more visibility to audiences. First, “Entourage” has a cult following and many have followed the show and await the movie. Although lesser known, “The Athena Project” could give Rousey a movie franchise where she can star in multiple movies. What does this mean for her MMA career? We shall see. Certainly going back and forth from movies to training to fighting will take a toll on her mentally and physically. But for her career post-Octagon, Rousey should have a nice future in entertainment.

As for the UFC, this should be a concern considering she is one of the top draws for the company. It will be hard for Dana White to keep her away from the movies.

I don’t think this assures she will have a nice future in movies. An acting career can end just as abruptly as a fighting career. Especially for woman. Even seasoned actors get type cast and cant get work or fall off the fact of the earth when it comes to acting roles. Ronda will face an up hill battle to have a long acting career. First its hard on woman in Hollywood because few are looking for 35-40 year old plus woman. Very few stay in demand after 30. Next she isn’t a typical actor she is a fighter. She hasn’t got her position in acting due to acting. Third, she is getting her roles now based on her status as champion and having a following. Without the belt she will lose a lot of interest in her. Without being in the UFC she will lose almost all interest in her. Once it is gone. All she has to get her foot in is her looks and acting skills which is not on the level of 22 year old Hollywood starlets. Not to mention roles that she could typically get will go to whoever is the current champion. Why cast Rousey when you can have the new champion who has all the fans and interest Ronda used to have?

She would be smart to do both as long as possible. IF she does each will feed off each other and make her more money on both ends. That way she can take advantage of both while the time is right. regardless of what happens in the future with either.

N2 on
February 8th, 2014 10:12 AM

Sure, not many women get top acting roles once they start closing in on 40.
Not a lot of top fighters that age either.

Both of her careers, fighting and women’s acting, are for the young. Good thing she’s young, then. She’ll make enough in the next few years to last a lifetime.

Gina Carano is still getting steady acting work and she hasn’t won a fight since 2008. Carano’s name brand and reputation as a bad-ass chick seems to have stayed with her for 5+ years now after her fighting career.

It’s not clear how long an acting career can be for a former top female fighter.
Chuck Norris turned a champion karate fighter resume into a 40 year long acting career.

Randy Couture’s acting career seems to be doing well years after he retired.

There’s a minimum level of acting talent needed, of course. Rampage and Liddell both did some acting and landed some decent roles. Mike Tyson is a terrible actor but keeps getting work cause he’s so famous.

Since there isn’t a long history of famous female fighters, it’s not clear how long their fame will last after they lose their title or retire. Most likely not that many years. But Carano keeps getting acting work even after Rousey stole her spotlight.

BrainSmasher on
February 8th, 2014 2:53 PM

But Gina isn’t getting the lead role in blockbuster movies like she did when she started. Her movie didn’t do so well. She also has much better looks to work with than Rousey.

Cant really compare men to woman in Hollywood. Men stay popular for a very long time. You can be a male action star from 20 to into your 60’s. Woman just don’t last as stars past mid 30’s. Men seem to peak around 40.

The worst sign for Rousey is the fact that Hollywood keeps grabbing up every female fighters who has looks and a title or hype. Which means they are not seeing any acting potential or talent. Which means every womans champ will get her same opportunities. Now that the UFC has created a 115 division for woman. Many of them attractive. It creates more woman who will compete for those roles. Rousey’s personality of turning so many of the fans against her isn’t going to help. People not liking her can help. BUt I think she has went way to far to the point people think she is a crazy bitch. Coming off like that only helps when you are on top. People want to see you win and some want to see you lose. But when the bad guys loses. No one cares about them anymore and they alienated would be fans.

Saldathief on
February 9th, 2014 1:45 PM

No women MMA fighter is ever going to break out to be anything more than a cameo or some d list movie role please!

LeonThePro on
February 10th, 2014 2:00 PM

WARNING: Essay ahead

Reading headlines on how Rousey is landing 2 new acting gigs is giving me deja vu. One can’t help but compare her to Gina Carano. When she transitioned to Hollywood I followed here career for awhile, but unfortunately it kind of sputtered out, and I think the odds of Gina rising above her current C/D level status is pretty slim. Taking a look at IMDB:

We see her peak (thus far) with the leading role in Haywire. Unfortunately this movie was not a success and likely lost money with its budget being $23M (US box office $18.9M). I believe this film was a good test at seeing how well a good looking action heroine from combat sports translates to the big screen, as lead.

With Rousey, there are uncanny similarities. Just as Gina had a role in the F&F franchise, so does Rousey. The real question is are WMMA leading ladies ideal for leading roles or supporting cast? I think the answer is the latter. Carano, as a lead, has been demoted to C and D level movies in 2014. Her glamor in the public eye has worn off.

Regarding looks – it’s a no brainer with Carano winning that one. Who’s a better actress? I’ll wait to see Rousey chop it up on the big screen before I determine that. Unless there is abundant natural talent, you will see Rousey go in the direction of Carano. Looking at Carano, the best thing Rousey can do is accept the side-kick role and become a Michelle Rodriguez type figure.

@N2 – I wouldn’t say Couture’s pro acting career is very diverse, or even “well.” His biggest roles have been as a side-kick in The Expendables franchise as a novelty character, and if you IMDB him, not much else is going on. Fortunately or unfortunately, he’s typecast.

@Jason – I think much of the MMA media and Zuffa embellish Rousey’s “importance” to the UFC. Sure she’s a hit with reporters, and is plastered all over MMA websites, but can she be called a huge draw just yet? She has 1 good (not great) PPV under her belt and the lowest-rated TUF series and yet MMA websites call her “the biggest start in the UFC.” I think this is extremely disrespectful and shameful to guys like Bones Jones who have been putting in work for years, and have a solid PPV average. I went to ticketmaster.com for UFC 170 and interestingly enough, MOST tickets are still available. Only floor is sold out… and remember, this is in a much smaller than usual venue with a 50% price reduction. It will be interesting to see how the live gate and PPV does to see where her drawing power lies.

LeonThePro on
February 10th, 2014 2:13 PM

****MMA websites call her “the biggest STAR in the UFC.”

billy on
February 12th, 2014 4:18 PM

Rousey can’t have a great movie career because Carano hasn’t had a great movie career. Amazing logic, Leon.

LeonThePro on
February 13th, 2014 7:34 AM

Oh it’s possible she has a “great” movie career, however, it’s unlikely.

I’m glad you like the comparable, it was the only one I had.

billy on
February 13th, 2014 9:49 AM

It’s fine to compare, the problem is when you draw conclusions. You have exactly one data point but think that determines the fate of all “WMMA leading ladies”. 15 years ago, would you have said “Looking at Hulk Hogan, the best The Rock can do is…”